Music Video Lesson: How to give a tuning note

Robert Estrin: Hi, I'm Robert Estrin here at VirtualSheetMusic.com and Living Pianos.com. And today's subject is how to give a tuning note. You might think, how to give a tuning note? Are you kidding me? You just play the note, right?

Well, there's actually a lot more to it. And we've got Florence Estrin here to kind of aid in this whole discussion. I can't tell you how many times we've gone to concerts together and at the very beginning you hear them tuning up and the pianist will go [plays piano] and they then . . . Show them what they do on the flute.

Florence Estrin: [plays flute]

Robert Estrin: And then they go, okay, and we look at each other like, are you kidding? And a lot of time we'll be able to tell that the other instrument, whether it's a flute or violin, it doesn't matter, is not in tune. But they can't tell why? Because they're not playing it the way they will in the music if you're just going to kind of peck the note. So that's on the soloist end, but as a pianist, pianists sometimes give a tuning note and then the flute plays or the other instrument play. It goes back and forth, or worse yet they'll do this and here's a big mistake. Ready? Let's tune together at exactly the same time. Go. [plays piano and flute]

So you do that, and you can know whether it's in tune or not. But it's extraordinarily difficult to tell which way it is if you play at exactly the same time. However, if you alternate the note, the tuning note, with the soloist you can hear the difference. So this is a great way to tune. First of all, play the note nice and strong, and you might want to add the D minor triad so they can tune to a chord or sometimes even A major triad playing nice and strong. Play more than one octave for the soloist, sometimes play different notes depending on the instrument.

So this is the way that we might tune, for example. I play the A in the middle of the piano very strong. I take the pedal to enhance the tone, and I add the D and the F beneath it right after [plays piano and flute]. And another thing we might do is play the octave higher [plays piano, then plays flute].

Don't be afraid to play that tuning loud. If you play it too softly, it's hard for the soloist to adjust and really make sense of it. And a lot of times as a soloist a lot of times people are squeamish, "Oh, I don't want to play that tuning note so loud. You know, people, they don't want to hear that." You know what? Tuning is important. They will appreciate you being in tune to the performance, and will endure the 30 seconds or whatever it takes you. So take your time with the tuning.

As a pianist, as you're giving that tuning note loud and clear, give it more than once. Give the soloist ample time to adjust pitch by playing the note not just at exactly the same time but alternate back and forth so they can hear themselves, particularly with students. It's vital that you provide them this opportunity because they're up there, they're not accustomed to tuning quickly and under pressure and nerves and all of that.

Is there anything you'd like to add, or do you think that's covers it pretty well?

Florence Estrin: I think you covered it pretty well.

Robert Estrin: All right. So that's it for tuning. Thanks so much for joining us here. This is Robert Estrin with VirtualSheetMusic.com and LivingPianos.com.

Automatic video-to-text transcription by DaDaScribe.com

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